Minecraftian Venturer
by Artiaov Darc
Summary: A disturbance has occurred across the land. The days grow shorter, the nights longer, the land is ravaged, and the mobs gather. A dark power is gathering, and there is almost no chance of stopping it. The best chance of stopping it is for the man named Darc to gather his former companions. To do so he must survive as he traverses the ravaged land. M for swearing and maybe a lemon.
1. Unwelcome guests

A/N: This is my first attempt, ever, at writing any sort of story, so please... criticize the heck out of it :D

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Narrator POV

Artiaoc Darc lived on his own, save for his two wolves, Terghat and Wlisra, and his cat, Felix, and that was just how he wanted it. His home was a small, or so he called it, mansion near the small village of Nevendra.

Currently, he was sitting in his rocking chair, smoking a pipe he had carved himself. "So peaceful.." he thought out loud, only to hear somehow shouting at his front gate. Oh no, its that time of year again isn't it? he thought, sighing as he tried ignoring the shouting, only to hear the sounds of someone trying to climb over the fence.

A few seconds later, he heard a loud thump as he walked to the window to see a man sitting on the ground. "Ow! Would you mind letting me in next time instead of making me let myself in?!" he shouted in a rough voice. He stood up grumbling, and made his way to the door. Darc beat him to it however, not wanting him to get dirt on the door handle.

"Hello again, Joseph." he sighed in his british accent, wanting to get him out of his mansion as quick as possible, but knowing this would take a while. "Thanks for opening the gate. Not!" Joseph said as he glared at Darc, and walked into the mansion not bothering to scrape any of the mud off outside.

"Why oh why must you keep those boots on? You always make it so hard to clean up afterwards... Just take them off for once." Darc sighed as he saw the trail of mud Joseph was leaving in his wake.

"Take my boots off? Absurd! It was hard enough to convince that man to give me these as a reward instead of the money! Where would I get a new pair if I lost them?!" he ranted, and continued doing so as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Now, wheres the food at again? Ah!" Joseph said before taking 2 meals worth of porkchops, a whole loaf of bread, and bowl of mushroom stew.

He then walked over to the table and dug in. "Delicious! How do you make it taste like this?" he said, his mood calming and his mouth stuffed. "I always say the same thing, and always will. Its not me who cooks it, its my friend at the village." Darc said. "Could you tell me his name?" Joseph said while digging into his 4th porkchop already.

"The answer is and has always been no, I do not wish to trouble my friend with you." Darc said, sitting across from him with his plate, which contained 1 porkchop, a slice of bread, and in a bowl next to it sat his mushroom stew.

"Tell me, what is it that has brought you here this time? Failed a quest or two and lost your money while you were at it?" Darc inquired, wanting to know just why Joseph had come. "A Venturer never fails a quest!" Joseph said, glaring at Darc while he ate.

Darc frowned slightly. The Venturers were a group of, well adventurers, a group which both Darc and Joseph belonged to. The Venturers were renowned throughout the land for their heroic deeds.

This proved annoying for Darc, as kids would come to his place asking for stories of the venturers. He always tried to shoo them away, but they would always come back later.

"Although I did lose my money..." Joseph admitted sheepishly. "So, how much did you lose? 17 emeralds? A stack or two of gold? Maybe even a diamond or two?" Darc asked, not very eager to know but still wanting to get him out of his home as fast as possible.

Joseph wiped his mouth using his sleeve, and answered "34 emeralds, 14 gold, and a diamond." Joseph replied. Darc sighed heavily. He had expected him to lose alot, but not that much. "I can spare the gold and the diamond, but I can't spare that many emeralds. Do some work to get them back for once." he said taking 7 emeralds out of his pocket and handing them to Joseph.

"Ah, come on, man! I need the money!" Joseph said. "And I need it also, remember?" Darc replied strictly, finishing his lunch. He watched as Joseph finished his and stood up. "Not as much as I do, you live in a mansion man! Just sell a couple lights or something!" Joseph said, walking away from his now empty plate, and heading out the back door to Darc's hot spring.

"Well, thats just great. Now he's gonna get the hot spring dirty too." Darc thought. "At least take off the boots before you go in, please?" I asked. "Never! It was hard enoug-" Joseph started to say, before Darc interrupted him.

"You've already told me once this visit." Darc interrupted. "And if your not gonna take the boots off, at least take one piece of clothing off." Darc said, not wanting Joseph to roam around leaving muddy water everywhere.

Joseph immediately went on to say how he had to steal his jacket from a man who refused to pay for the quest he had sent him on. "And I'm not even gonna bother telling you how hard it was to get these leggings!" he exclaimed.

Darc sighed, and decided to go to the library to read one of those books one of his friends had sent him recently. The book was called The Hero of Minecraftia and from what he knew it was a story about how a man named chris became just that.

He had a few other books his friend had sent him, namely Yokai Shojo Rakuen, which he knew meant Monster Girl Paradise; Road to the End; Finish This Fight, which was a sequel to a book called Minecraftian Warnings; and finally Mob Talker Romance.

He decided he would read The Hero of Minecraftia first. He had enough spare time later to read the others. Just as he was about to start reading, he heard what sounded like an explosion, and looked a window to see what it was. What he saw did not amuse him.

He saw a large group of mobs outside Nevendra, and they looked like they were out for blood. No surprise there. What surprised him was the fact that they had gathered in the first place, and the sheer number of them.

He counted 43 creepers, 62 zombies, 57 skeletons, 13 endermen, 65 spiders, and 17 spider jockeys. That number of mobs could take a large town, nevermind a village. This was a mob invasion.

He turned around to see Joseph in his armor, with his sword at the ready. "Did you see?" Darc asked. Joseph nodded, his expression grim. He handed Darc his armor and sword, and the two went to help defend the village against the oncoming invasion.

On the way there, Darc devised a plan that would allow him to get past the mobs, and into the village to get the ones who couldn't fight to safety. "You strike at the center of that area, drawing them away from there. Meanwhile, I will sneak through the gap with this invisibility potion." he said, pulling an invisibility potion out from beneath his cloak.

"I don't usually use a plan, but it seems its neccesary for this battle. Also, when did you get that?! I want one!" exclaimed Joseph, eyeing the potion with greed. "I always have one. You never know when they might come in useful." he said, pulling a potion of strength from under the cloak and tossing it to Joseph, who caught it and immediately drank it. Darc drank his, and they began.

Joseph ran at the point Darc had indicated, with Darc right behind him. "Hey! You damned brainless zombies! Come and get me!" he said, striking 6 of them down before they turned and attacked. Now, it was all up to Joseph not to get killed while Darc secured the elderly and children.

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Darc POV

I snuck through the gap successfully, now I just needed to get the villagers to safety. I began rounding up the villagers, and I saw one of the guards. "Take this note to the mayor, and tell him to let the cows into the pasture" I said, handing him the note.

He immediately ran off in the direction of the mayors house. I continued to round up the villagers.

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Joseph POV

"Ugh... why did I have to be the one to distract the mobs? That lazy idiot. Always giving me the hard work." I muttered as an arrow barely missed my knee. "Just die already! I don't care if your undead, just die again!" I shouted as I hacked apart another zombie, the little shit would stay down.

"Fucking die!" I slashed another 3 mobs down. "That "strategist" had better give me something good for this! Fuck!" I yelled as an arrow got me above the knee. "You little SHITS!" I screamed as I snapped off what I could. Gonna have to visit the hospital later.

There were only a few mobs left at this point, so I charged them, not caring if I risked being hit by more arrows. They might hurt me, but they weren't going to kill me anytime soon. I made it to the remaining mobs unharmed save for the arrow above my knee.

I quickly slashed the last creepers down before they could explode, and took care of the other remaining mobs. "Finally, what took you so long? Couldn't have died sooner?!" I yelled as I stomped on the face of the last zombie. Time to go see what Darc's doing.

* * *

Narrator POV

The guard Darc had sent to give the note to the mayor had just made it when the mods began attacking. He quickly ran inside and barricaded the door. The mayor heard this from his bedroom, and walked downstairs to see what it was.

"What are you doing? What's going on?" he asked before the guard turned around, telling him about the mobs before giving him the note and telling him the message Darc had said. "He wants me to use that...?" the mayor thought out loud, confusing the guard before looking at the note.

It told him how to operate the security Darc had created incase of emergency. He immediately ran into the basement, and to the control panal for the security.

After pressing the buttons and switching the levers the note said to there was a noise outside. And it wasn't the mobs, for it sounded like something big was moving. He ran upstairs and looked out a window. The security was working.

Holes opened up in the ground, and iron golems were raised out of them before the holes closed again. The mayor was overjoyed. He hadn't known the security was iron golems, for Darc had only said that it was something for when things got bad.

There was a drawback, however. Darc had said that all villagers must be inside their homes when the security is activated, because the security was "getting rusty". He saw that he meant it literally, as the golems seemed to not know friend or foe.

He checked the note to see if there was anything else written on it. He saw at the bottom that it said the security would only last for 2 minutes before it would lose power. He hoped that the golems would be able to get rid of the mobs before that happened.

* * *

Meanwhile, Joseph had returned to the village and was currently inside the townhall with the villagers and Darc.

"You had better give me something good for that! And I don't care if you removed the arrow, you still better give me something good! Fuck!" he yelled. He had just had the arrow removed and was lying on a bench, his leg felt like it was on fire.

"Try not to swear, there are children around." Darc said with a blank face. "Who fucking cares?! I got shot in the fu-" he was cut off as Darc stuffed a rag in his mouth. "No swearing. Period." he said before letting go of the rag, allowing Joseph to remove it from his mouth.

"What the he-" Darc stuffed another rag in his mouth. "No." he said before walking off towards the captain of the guards. "We should stay inside for a little, the mayor will activate it any moment now" he said, handing the guard a slice of beard. "What's this for?" he asked as Darc shrugged "Just so you don't go hungry." he explained.

Just a moment later, the sound of metal hitting flesh and bone could be heard outside. "I advise you to keep the young ones away form the windows." suggested Darc, causing most of those with children to move farther away from the windows.

"Now we only need to wait two minutes, after that I will go outside to see if any mobs survived. Don't let anyone outside until I come back, alright?" he said as he started a timer. "Alright, I got it. Don't let anyone out until you come back." he repeated.

Darc nodded before walking back over to where Joseph was. "Have the flames died down a little?" Darc asked, inquiring about the state of Joseph's leg. "What do you think?! You were only gone for about 30 seconds! Gah!" he exclaimed. Darc sighed, sitting down next to Joseph, and thought about which part of the village to check first.

I'll check the west part first, he thought, finishing just before the timer reached 2 minutes. He stood up and walked out the door.

* * *

Darc POV

I checked the west part first, as I had planed. There were a few mobs left, so I struck them down. I then checked the north and east, but when I arrived at the southern area, I saw what looked like a man running about cleaning the rust off the golems, which had shut down now that they had no power.

I walked towards them until I was just a few feet away, and then asked "Who might you be? And how did you survive outside?". They slowly turned looked towards me, and I saw that it was a girl, not a man.

She had short black hair, although one couldn't see it from behind because she was wearing a dark green hoodie, and it seemed she was wearing goggles under it as well. Her eyes were a dark green, and she looked like she might be 20. I couldn't see how tall she was, as she was crouching. Her shoes and pants were dark purple, and looked worn.

For a short while there was only silence. "Who are you, and how did you survive outside." I repeated. "But I was inside, I was in that house over there." she said in a strong british accent, pointing to a house outside the village that looked like it would fall over any at any second.

"You stayed away from the area and made no noise until the mobs were gone, I'm guessing. Now, what is your name?" I asked again, emphasizing the word name. She hesitated before saying "Tell me yours first". "Artiaov Darc" I replied. She didn't seem to recognize it, which told me she wasn't from the village. "My name is..."

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Who is the young lady? What is Darc going to do? Will the mobs come again? Find out when I publish the next chapter! Also I made this a little longer, as it was quite short before. Thank you for reading, please give feedback (reviews) and fav or follow if you want to stay updated on the story. Also, in addition to making this chapter longer, I have made it look less like a big block of text. You may go now :3


	2. The Gear Head

A/N I would like to thank PUR3 K1LL3R for offering to re-write this chapter (and possibly more) in his/her style to make the chapter longer. Please note that what happens stays the same, it is just that PUR3 seems to like adding (insert whatever it is HERE). Btw, a quite from PUR3: "It was a pleasure to help to re-write this. It was fun." :3 "But I wish Artiaoc would lighten up a bit XD. artiaov*" No new reviews to respond to, sadly.

But, anyway, onwards to the story!

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"M-my name… My name is… uh…" She paused. "Um…"

It was like as if she had forgotten her own name. How could anyone for forget their own name?

"…Do you even have a name, miss…?" I asked intently. She shook in head. How could she forget her name? I sighed in pity. I might as well do the heroic thing to do, name her. I tried to think of a name to call her…

"Hm… How about I call you… Trisha. If that name is fine with you?" I finished as she stood up.

"Er, yeah… that's actually a great name, thank you." She said with a greatful smile. Glad to know I'm good at picking names for someone.

"Alright then, now that we have that out of the way, why are you trying to clean the rust off of else golems… I mean they look nice and clean now, but the unfixable problem is in their hardware and wiring." I finished knocking on the golem, making a metallic echoing sound. Trisha rubbed her chin. It looked like she was thinking deeply.

"Um… Is it ok if I take a look inside one of these things?" She asked, making little puppy dog eyes, trying to persuade his decision.

"No." I started. "There really ins't a way to repair these old things once they're rusted like this. You'd only make it worse and do more damage to them. These things just have to sit here and wait till they're melted down and recycled to make new ones." I sighed. "It's sad really. These things used to protect villages for many years, now they're just going to throw them away, I would rather them be operational, but alas it is impossible."

"…And how do you know that, smarty pants? Who said I didn't know how to fix and repair the wiring inside these machines? Is it because I'm a girl, huh?" She challenged, like she already knew a way to repair these old war machines... Yeah, when the nether freezes over…

"…You being a woman doesn't change the fact that no-one change repair something like this… Man or woman, it can't be done. But, if you feel so strongly about it. You can go ahead and 'try' to fix them." I finished, keeping my stoic expression on my face. Her expression changed instantly to a happy one.

"Really?" She started, a smile starting to form on her face. "Y-you'll let me fix them…?"

"Correct." I replied.

"You're joking right? Right?" She questioned in disbelief.

"I am not joking, woman. The only reason I am letting you do this is to see if you can actually repair it, instead of it blowing up in our faces."

"Yay!" She squealed in delight, hugging me tightly. Once she looked up at my face, she immediately let go, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. I didn't need to react to her act of affection, I just crouched down next to the iron clad golem she had been cleaning and working on and opened up a hidden panel on its leg, revealing its wires and machinery. Seeing this, the girl also crouched down and thrusted her hands into the wiring, and began trying to work the parts inside, sparks occasionally flying out of the machinery. I stood by and began to scan the area, just in-case anyone or anything wanted to show its ugly head. I looked down at the woman again, I was surprised as to see that she actually knows what she is doing. Who knew? I redirected my eyes back to scanning the current area. Minutes into her machine work, she looked up at me with a face-splitting grin.

"What?" I asked. Wanting to know the reason behind her expression.

"I think I may have found something that might be something you're interested in." She said as I raised my eyebrow in skepticism.

"Really? Show me." I said, crouching down next to the woman again. She pointed to a cylindrical object inside the golem's leg. I've never seen it before, what could it be?

"And what would that be?" I questioned.

"You seriously don't know what this is?! It's a small power generator! But… its looks broken. The bulb is shattered and the power cables connecting this to the rest of the golem are snapped… Do you people have to manually recharge these things?" She finished.

"I don't think we have. We've never even used them before. I found else old machines while searching around under the town. From what I saw, they had a little power left, so I made sure not to use them. The only rare time I do use these things in for emergencies."

"Oh." The girl replied.

"Wait a minute…" I started.

"W-what is it?"

"If this is a small power generator, this iron golem will be able to keep going indefinitely of fixed, yes?" I asked.

"…M-maybe, yeah." Trisha replied.

"And if that's the case, do all iron golems have one of these generators?"

"I'm not sure, probably. I'm not a golem specialist." She started. "But, it would be wonderful if they all had one. More things to fix is always better, well in my opinion anyways." She finished cheerfully, with her usual smile, grabbing an old oil can and a used rag from her utility belt wrapped around her waist, something that I hadn't noticed before. She began to try and stroke the rushed off of the machine, and she did quite a good job of it too.

Suddenly, I heard something from behind us, so I swiftly grabbed my sword from its sheath and spun, ready to attack whatever may come. Moving as quickly as I did slightly startled Trisha.

"Eek! P-please, don't hurt me mister." A little girl yelled from behind a thin wooden post. It was one of the village children. She had bright baby blue eyes, brunette hair, and stood at three and a half feet tall. It was one of the village children, why she here? And what was she doing behind me and the woman while she was working? I sheathed my sword, concealing it from the little girls' sight and walked over to her and knelt down to her level.

"What are you doing here, outside and all alone? Shouldn't you be at the church with the other villagers?" I questioned intently.

"I-I… I was p-playing hide and seek with my friends, out in the friends…" She started as she began to tear up. "We were frightened, we saw the m-monsters, so we c-climbed a tree to hide from them…" She said. I quickly took the information in and spoke, knowing that her friends could be in danger.

"And where are they, your friends?"

"T-They abandoned me in the oak t-tree… B-because I didn't want to come down, I-I was still scared…" She sniffled.

"Hmm… What's your name?"

"E-Elana…" She replied.

"Alright, Elana. You stick close to me and I'll deliver you to the cathedral after I search the area for other monsters that may still by around…" I said, causing the girl's eyes to widen in fear. "Don't worry, little one. I'm not going to let them hurt you. You're with me, remember?" She nodded. Suddenly, I heard Trisha clear her throat from behind me. I turned to see her smiling slyly at us

"Well, aren't you just her knight in shining armor? Haha!" She said as she laughed. Elana giggled slightly. I sighed.

"We're going to have to hold off on those repairs for later, Trisha. Currently, I need to check the surround area for monsters and deliver this girl to her family, and have a little chat with her 'friends' aswell" I finished. Why would her friends leaving her here, that's just preposterous, she could get hurt or even killed. Suddenly, I noticed that three of the presumably decommissioned iron golems to be walking around, not making a single sounds whatsoever. How did this woman already have three of them moving? Impossible. Trisha smiled proudly at her astounding achievement.

"Whoa! What are those things. I've never seen them before." Elana stated, in wonder of the mechanical marvels walking in front of her.

"These things are called: Iron Golems, little lady." Trisha began with a grin. "These great machines used to protect the village of its builder. And as you can see, I'm already partly done on fixing them. I always have spare parts with me." She finished, patting her utility belt on her hips, her grin ever so widening.

"How did you repair them so fast? And without me opening the hidden panels?" I asked, astonished. Trisha sarcastically scoffed at me.

"Those panels aren't really that hard to find, if you know what you're looking for that is." She said.

"They're almost impossible to spot." I deadpanned.

"Don't get me wrong, they're hard to spot. But, I've been working on Iron golems sense I was seven years old." She explained.

"Hmm…" I started. "Alright, lets go search the area for monsters, after that we'll get back to the cathedral." I looked over to the woman. "I assume you're coming, woman?" I asked.

"Stop calling me 'woman'. You gave me a name, use it more." She commanded. "Anyway, I don't have anything better to do. I ran out of parts to fix the golems with, so I might as well go with you." She answered before looking away slyly. I studied her face, trying to find out why she was acting so shy. Doing his made her have a deep red blush appear on her cheeks. So I decided to just do nothing about it.

"Alright, let's go then, shall we?" I said as we left and began to observe the surrounding area. We searched for what seemed like hours. But, in reality it was more like fifteen minutes. After me finished searching, we made our way to the cathedral and walked up to the front door. They were being guarded by a couple soldiers. Upon my observation, I saw a Captain badge on one of their shoulders. Being the Captain of the guard, someone like him doesn't really do guard duty. He must've let the first guard a day off and started to guard these doors in his place.

"So, can I assume that it's safe out there? I want to let these people out, their getting pretty bored and anxious form being crammed up inside this church." He said, he himself sounding anxious.

"Correct. It is safe outside. You can let the people out now." I replied. The Captain sighed in relief. "Also, deliver this child to her parents." I said, motioning him the little girl holding onto his pant leg.

"Sure, I'll see to it that she is delivered to her parents." He said.

"Hey, Private Johnson!" The Captain ordered, surprising his fellow man.

"Y-yes, Captain Gaston?" The Captain picked up the little girl and handed her over to the other lower ranking soldier.

"Make sure this girl is given back to her respective family." Captain Gaston ordered.

"Y-yes, sir." He said as he took the girl and began searching for her family. Gaston opened the church doors and yelled.

"Alright people! You can go outside now!" Gaston and the others stepped aside to let the villagers out. Gaston entered the church as the villagers were rushing out, I began to follow, with the woman behind me. Gaston stopped and looked back at me, but his attention was taken away from me as he looked at Trisha.

"And who are you young miss…? She's not yours, is she?" He asked me, winking suggestively. Why would the Captain insinuate such a thing? He knows that I'm not interested in those typed of things. I noticed from behind me that Trisha blushed slightly when he asked that question, and shuffled behind me a bit.

"She doesn't even remember her own name, so I called her Trisha. And no, she is not 'mine'. I found this girl whilst I was patrolling for the monsters. She saw the decommissioned iron golems, and miraculously, it seems that she is able to repair them." I added as the captain raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Hmm… I would say that it had to be a load of bull, but knowing you it probably isn't. But, did you observe this girl managing to repair those machines?" Gaston asked intently.

"No, I didn't. But I saw the results of her knowledge to repair them. They now seem to be able to function indefinitely, although I'm assuming that they would need to have regular maintenance to prevent any more rusting. " I replied.

"Good then. So, my guess is that you need spare parts, is that right Miss Trisha?" Gaston asked.

"Yes, actually. That would be very useful." She replied cheerfully, still partly hiding behind me.

"Miss Trisha. There is no need to hide behind Artiaov, he'll just step to the side anyway." The Captain said as I stepped to the side.

"See?" Gaston started. "Now, let's get those parts Miss Trisha. I'll lead you to the junkyard where you'll get all the parts you need." He said as he guided the woman back towards the door, holding it open for her. Classic.

As the two stepped outside, Trisha turned her head back to me and gave me a worried look. It seems that she is becoming attached to me in some way… That was fast. I nodded back at the woman and she stepped outside to follow the captain to the junkyard. Where she'll acquire parts to fix the rest of the golems.

At the moment the two left. I walked over to where Joseph had been sitting, He was still there, only now he had stopped swearing.

"How is the leg doing? Is it feeling any better?" I asked. He looked at me grumpily.

"Does it _look_ any better numb nuts? Because, no. It doesn't feel any better, still hurts like a bitch." Joseph swore. "Damned doctors haven't moved to the stupid hospital yet. If they don't hurry the fuck up, they're the one that are going to get injured." He said, just loud enough for the nearby doctors to hear him. The doctors quickly stepped out of the room, not wanting to be the target of Joseph's cursing.

"I agree, but I would like to have you refrain from cursing. Well, at least now there aren't any children around to hear you swear. Not that you aren't already swearing right now. In fact, you're being unusually quiet..." I finished.

"Shut up. I'm just getting my breath back. Now, tell me. Who the hell was the woman that was accompanying you? And also, is she available." He asked, having a ravenous look in his eyes. I was wondering when he was going to ask that question.

"Even if she is, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want someone as arrogant as you. Besides she is a gear-head. She's too smart for you. " I stated in a matter-of-fact manner. Joseph glared at me angrily.

"Well, then you gets her? You?" He replied as he scoffed. Why would he think I would want her?

"Whether or not anyone 'gets' her, is up to her, not you or me, nor anyone else." I immediately responded. As if I would be interested in her.

"You're not interested anyway." Joseph suddenly said.

"Correct." I replied solemnly.

"You never are, no matter what they do or say. I bet if one of them asks you to have sex with them, you'd still say no. You need to get a girlfriend, or better yet a wife." He finished, as slight smirk plastered on his face.

"Like I've said many times before, I would prefer not to have to get attached to things, I don't want something or someone to lose." I reminded him.

"You told me that bullcrap already. So many times in fact that I think that old Sephrin would have remembered." Joseph said as he sighed. "Ah, I miss that old guy. So funny." He finished as he sighed again.

"Well, I'm going to go see what's going on at the old tavern. You stay here and get some rest." I said, walking towards the doors, I ignored Joseph's protesting about wanting to go with me. "If you want that leg of yours to heal, you'd better stay where you are." I yelled slightly from over my shoulder. But, that didn't stop his protests. I continued to ignore him as I walked out the door. I as walked through the doors, I took a deep breath of fresh air as I walked back into the village streets. No monsters, no disruptions… It was peaceful here. For the time being anyway. I looked around and saw villagers walked up and down the streets, and the children laughing and playing. The shops, selling various items for different purposes. The junkyard wasn't too far from the tavern, but I may be mistaken, I've never attempted to go there before. I think I'll go see how the Captain and that woman are doing after I'm done at the tavern. I began to walked into the crowds of people, the villagers parting as I was passing through, making the walk much easier and faster. I continued to walked until I saw the tavern. As I walked up, I looked up to the sign. I was called: "The Mushroom Haven", and it had all sorts of… "mushrooms" inside the doors at all times.

There was adventuring ones, hunters and wanting fame, fortune and glory, although those quests either don't give much of either, or they ended in a way you most certainly didn't want them to end. Next, were the ones who just came here to stare at the waitress', much like Joseph. They were either fat merchant, or a man who just had gotten lucky a found a misplaced sack of gold, wouldn't matter how much it was, once they leave this tavern they won't have any left. And the reason for that, is that those with no money didn't stay long, either thrown out for harassing the waitress or starting bar fights, or they were helped home by their less drunk friends. The other two things that were extremely common around here were gossip and rumors. Any and all who come to this tavern, no matter who they are, they always brought gossip or rumors with them, or both.

The hardy adventurers talked about their last quests, and spread rumors about some heroic and impossible deed that they had supposedly done. And rumors around here spread like wild fire. The merchants talked about the constantly changing prices of their 'goods' and spread bad rumors about the rival merchants so that they might try making themselves more successful than others. And then their were the common folk, who simply wished to find relief in a mug of cold ginger-ale Those kinds of people were the least common around here, and usually ended up getting kicked out for being too drunk. But anyway, I think we should be getting back to what we were doing. Shall we?

I pushed open the doors and walked into the tavern, and found it to be just as I remembered it to be. I walked over to the bar, and began to acquire the attention of the barkeep. He looked over to me and recognized me, and instantly knew what I wanted. He poured me a glass of milk, and asked one the waitress' to go and get Marten, who happened to be the owner of this establishment, and also a good friend of mine. I quick downed my glass of milk, and reached into my pocket and threw the barkeep a couple a gold coins, enough for two more glasses. The bartender gave me the other two glasses, and I started to drink the glasses as I waited. Not a moment later, I heard Marten walked into the room, a large grin on that bearded face of his.

"Artiaov, my friend!" Marton started, his Russian accent is also apparent. "It's been awhile! Hey, give him another glass of milk, would you?" Her told the bartender.

"No no, that's quite alright." I said after finishing my last glass of milk.

"Now, what brings you here on this fine afternoon? Have you come to chat with your old friend… Or perhaps make good friends with the waitress', yes?" He finished with a wink.

"You joke too much, old friend." I replied.

"Ah, you know me too well, Artiaov. Now take a seat already." He said, a wide grin plastered on his face.

A few minutes into the merriment. I heard loud footsteps coming from outside. They got louder until th front doors busted open, revealing Joseph. Why would he be this stupid and walk around with a leg like his. I sighed. He limped over and took a seat next to mine.

"Didn't I order you to be resting that leg?" How did you get past the doctors with a leg like that?" I asked curisouly.

"I told them I'd snap their necks of they didn't let me out." He scoffed."They didn't even put up much of a resistance. Cowards." He muttered.

"Well, you couldn't really blame them, you could scare a mutant creeper into hiding." I replied, knowing that he fears mutant creepers.

"Shut up, those things are only myths. Nobody knows that of there are mutant mobs out there." He said before ordering a cold ginger ale.

"And, also, how would know? You always suppress your damned emotions. I can't be good for you."

"It's not like I don't know what fear feels like, Joseph. I used to be normal, just like you , remember? Back in that world…" I muttered, slightly depressed, not wanting to remember.

"Hey, don't you go talking about your home now, Darc. You'll ruin that reputation you worked to hard to establish if you let them see you get depressed." He finished.

"Wish you would care about my floors like that, Joseph." Marten said, before I remember that he was still sitting there listening to our conversation.

"You want to join in on the conversation, or do you just want to listen." I asked.

"Oh… I'm fine with just listening… Wouldn't want to draw attention from a certain someone…" Marten replied, shifting his seat a little further away, away from Joseph. Suddenly, I turned my head and noticed that most of the tavern as gathered at the center table. Something was going on, and I didn't like it. So I decided to check it out, whatever it could be.

"Give me a moment Marten, I'm going to check this out." I said before walking over to the crowd. The crowd parted as they saw me walk up to them, letting me get a better look. There was a couple of what look to be adventurous seating at the table, those two were arm wrestling. The two were evenly matched, neither of them were faltering. But, from under the table, I saw one of them stomp on the others foot. Making it look like he had hit the floor instead. The other man immediately lost, and I'm guessing it was as painful as it looked. The crowd threw their arms in the air and shared a hardy cheer, and money was exchanged. It seems that the spectators had been placing bets on the person that would win.

The man who had won unfairly spat on the table, and ordered a mug of ale from a waitress. Before he could get it, however, I decided to step forward. I dislike unfair methods used to win in competitions such as these. As soon as I stepped forward, all the cheering stopped. All eyes in the room were on me, so the cheater had no trouble figuring out the reason for the sudden silence.

"…You next, buddy? Well you've come to the right place if you wanted to lose some money." He finished with an accomplished grin on his face, although he didn't know what he was getting into when I decided to cease this man's cheating.

As I sat down, the crowd took a step back, knowing what was coming. And they didn't want to be anywhere too close when it happens… Smart for them. I cleared my throat and spoke.

"If I win, you give that man his money back." The 'Loser' was off to the left of us, watching and wondering why the crowd was so silent.

"Hah! As if!" He challenged "If I win…" He paused to see what I had that was valuable to him. "…If I win you give me that fancy cloak you have there!" He finished, wearing the same stupid grin that I seemed to dislike greatly. The ground took another step away from us. I'm not going to lose to this man. Nobody will take my cloak. No-one will even have the pleasure to touch my cloak.

"I'll hold back a little. For your sake, and the sake of your arm." It seems that only saying a couple specific words and piss him off, he placed him arm on the table angrily, while I placed mine down casually. Our hands clasped together tightly.

"Three… Two… One… Go!" At the moment the cheater said 'go', I slammed his arm down into the furniture with force, not actually needing that much strength to take him down. But, I must've used to much force, because I sent him crashing through the furniture, breaking it, and alos breaking one or two of the man's bones. This time, silence filled that room after he lost, not cheering. They probably had all their bets on him. I stood up, and walked to the man on the ground, who was squirming in pain. I picked up a bag full of gold coins that he had unfairly won, and threw it back to its rightful owner.

"He cheated…" I stated.

"What?" A man in the crowd asked.

"In the time to this man was arm wrestling with the man you see that is now on the ground and writhing in pain, he cheated by stomping his foot." I explained before I walked back to the bar with Joseph and Marten.

As the rest of the crowd went back to their previous seats in silence, I said to Marten. "I'll pay you for damages to the furniture later."

"No need my friend. I prefer a fair fight. Although, I would prefer that you didn't need to risk breaking his bones. But, I guess if you're involved there is going to be risks…" He finished with a small chuckle. Joseph and Marten looked over to the man in extreme pain.

"Don't worry about him. He's fine. His arm is just going to hurt for a little while." I deadpanned before downing the last glass of milk on the counter. "Well, I should get going now. I'll see you again sometime later, Marten."

"Aye, I'm quite sure you'll live long enough to come back, my friend." He said with a grin, throwing to objects at me. They seemed to be earnings, or at least looked like it.

"And what are these for?" I questioned.

"Just a little good luck charms, they belonged to my late wife. Bless her heart…" He started with a sigh. "She wanted you to have them, so that you could continue helping the village, and also to help you, knowing that you can get into trouble easily." He explained. I may not have known Martens wife, but see sounds like a wonderful and caring woman.

"Ah, of course. Her name was Mary, if I remember correctly?"

"Aye, and she never stopped to asking me to fix the hinges on the front door. Still have to do it too." He chuckled. "Anyway… go along now. Get your business done and go home already. You look pretty tired, friend."

"Me, tried? I never would've thought." I said, a slight smile sneaking onto my face. An extremely rare occurrence I might add. I turned and began walking back toward the door to exit the building, not caring if Joseph was able to leave on his own. I left through the doors and was about to walk in the direction of the junkyard, but I suddenly a saw a flash of green in the corner of my eye. Whatever it was it was just around the corner to my right. Against my better judgment, I decided to go and check it out… Not knowing who or what could be there…

* * *

What was the flash of light? Why does Darc have such strength? Does he have any porkchops left in his kitchen? Find out at least one of these things next chapter! Btw, PUR3 is awesome :)


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